


Fine

by Lady_Of_Paper_7



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Communication, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Give Tony Stark A Break, Healing, Hurt Tony Stark, Loki ranting at the rest of the Avengers, M/M, Stress, Unspecified Setting, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 22:10:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20235199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Of_Paper_7/pseuds/Lady_Of_Paper_7
Summary: “What are you doing?”, Loki demanded as he hugged his lover close.“’m fine”, Tony muttered but allowed the god to bear most of his weight.“I beg to differ”, Loki told him drily, “now hold onto me, I’ll get you back to-““I’m fine”, Tony repeated, slower this time, “don’t need to stay in bed all day”“Are you serious- Tony, you can’t stand upright”_______In which the constant level of stress Tony Stark is under finally takes a toll on him and Loki deals as best as he can with the situation.





	Fine

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own either characters, people or backstories. The only thing that I did was come up with semi-creative plots and ideas to put (already established and beloved) characters in and write them down, most of the time to come up with happy endings.

The debriefing had started almost three hours ago and there was no end in sight. Clint was half-asleep, slumped against Natasha who had secretly been playing tic-tac-to with Steve for the last forty minutes and Bruce sat hunched over with his chin resting heavily in the palm of his hand, this close to dozing off. Even the other S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents struggled to not lose track and keep making notes.

Fury – fully aware of the dwindling attention of most of the staff but determinately ignoring it - went on mercilessly. That is until Tony Stark got to his feet and attempted to slip out of the room. He might have made it out unnoticed if he had not accidentally knocked into one of the tables on his way out. The steel feet scraped over the floor with a nasty sound, effectively cutting off Fury and prompting four dozen heads to turn around to Tony who winced, frozen mid-step, one arm still folded across his middle and his skin almost as pale as the dress shirt he was wearing.

“Got something more important to do?”, Fury glared at him, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

The director hated the new bureaucracy more than anyone but figured the best way of dealing with it was getting through everything as soon as they could and, if possible, in one go. Now, normally, he would have received a more or less witty retort from the engineer, followed by either laughter or silent groans from the rest of the people in the room while Tony Stark either left the room or let himself fall back into his chair whilst rolling his eyes.

And Tony did open his mouth to reply. The thing was, that instead of words, a mouth full of blood sloshed out from between his lips and spilled red over his teeth and down his front.

“Shit” he slapped his other hand over his mouth, his vision still fuzzy and his knees threatening to give in, “shit, sorry, I’ll-“

“Sit down, you’re white as a sheet”, Bruce was on his feet and carefully guiding Tony to sit down on the floor before he managed to finish his sentence, “Everybody else, get out”, he ordered without taking his eyes of his friend whose face he carefully took between his hands, resting the back of his hand against his forehead..

Tony groaned quietly, clenching his teeth and pressing his hands harder against the lower half of his face and stomach as the room cleared. Cold sweat was glistening on his forehead and his whole face screwed up.

“Here”, Bruce reached for the wastepaper basket nearest to them, dragged it out from underneath the tables and held it beneath his chin, just in time before the engineer retched, more red spilling from his lips.

“Call Loki”, he mouthed towards the rest of their team and other agents who lingered at the door while the engineer heaved.

Tony would be pissed but Bruce would rather deal with that than Loki freaking out later when he found out his spouse had literally been spitting blood, and he had not been told about it. He could quite easily imagine a few things the god would do to him then and just thinking about them sent shivers down his spine. Never mind that anything he could imagine would probably only grace the tip of the iceberg of Loki’s imagination when it came to dealing out revenge.

“Thanks”, Tony shakily wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

“Does your stomach hurt?”, Bruce sat the basket down as far away from them as he could manage without getting up once Tony had nodded, squeezing his eyes shut, “where exactly?”

Tony indicated the middle of his stomach, just above his navel.

“You’ve been feeling nauseous a lot lately?”, Bruce asked, gently pushing against his shoulders until he laid back and unbuttoned the sullied dress shirt, feeling over the exposed skin.

“A little. Had some stomach-aches but it wasn’t that bad”, Tony muttered, “don’t tell Loki”

“No”, came a soft voice from the other side of the room, just before the door was pushed shut with a click, cutting off the voices and clatter drifting in from the hallway, and a second later, the god was at their side and kneeling down next to his spouse, who looked up at him for a second and made to push himself up again, “_do_ tell Loki”

“Loss of appetite during the last days?”, Bruce continued as if he had not heard or noticed anything but laid his hand down on his friend’s shoulder until he stopped trying to sit up. Instead, he shrugged, turning his head away from both of them, but Loki answered;

“I should say so”, he reached out to lay his hand against Tony’s jowl and gently touched the pale skin with the pad of his thumb while Tony groaned again, closing his eyes, “my sweet”

“Sounds a lot like an ulcer”, Bruce said, figuring that asking whether Tony had been under a lot of stress lately was obsolete and turned to the god, “that’s not that bad, it’s basically just bacteria that’s causing it, but we should get him to a hospital straight away. That or you could…?”

“I should be able to take care of it”, Loki carefully laid his hand against Tony’s upper stomach, right where the pain was the worst and Tony stifled a wince, “I’m sorry, my love”, he whispered as he pressed his fingers down harder and closed his own eyes.

A soft green glow started radiating from the palm of his hand and spread over Tony’s skin; “It _feels_ like inflammation”, he whispered, half to himself, half to the others, “this is going to feel very cold”

That was an understatement; Loki’s magic burned itself ice-cold through Tony’s veins, reaching deeper and deeper within his chest and belly where it dulled the red-hot, stabbing pain, steadily growing cooler and cooler until Tony felt like his whole body had been frozen solid. It became harder and harder to think. A big, velvety darkness was unfolding in his mind and finally, he stopped fighting to stay awake and let go, his head lolling to the side and his lips parting, the tension seeping out of his muscles. Still, Loki kept pressing his hands against Tony’s stomach for several minutes and finally bent over him, to kiss the top of his head.

“Could someone maybe give us a lift home? I don’t want to move him by teleporting if I can help it”, he eventually asked in a soft voice, laying one hand against Tony’s cheek and carefully pulled back the lid of his eye with the tips of the fingers of his other hand to check on his pupils.

“I’ll drive you. You want me to stop by a hospital anyway?”

“The spells should have taken care of the infection and undone the damage there was”, Loki brushed Tony’s hair out of his face before he started doing up the buttons of his lover’s dress shirt again. His fingers shook as he did so and only after several attempts did he finally manage to fit the tiny plastic discs through the button holes, “he’ll be out of it for some time though”, he cleared his throat quietly, fidgeting with the shirt collar for a moment.

“Alright”, Bruce got to his feet. He debated for a second whether he should offer his hand to the god and help him up but figured, Loki would probably just ignore it and before he finished making his decision, Loki was back on is feet, crouching next to his lover.

“If anything seems off, I will take him to the hospital, but he really should be fine, _he should be fine_”, Loki repeated, more to himself than to the doctor in a slightly strained sort of voice, shaking his head, “by the way, is there any way, we can leave without walking past everyone?”

“If you go through that door”, Bruce indicated the fire exit, “you can use the stairwell that leads right down to the parking lot. I’ll just tell the others he’s alright and we’ll get him to the tower”

“I’ll wait for you downstairs”

This time, Bruce managed to open his mouth halfway to ask, whether Loki wouldn’t need help carrying Tony but by then, the god had already carefully scooped him up in his arms, holding him close and looking no more bothered than he would carrying a jacket over his arm and Bruce simply held open the door for him and watched the two of them vanish down the stairs, swiftly and without making a sound.

_____

Neither of them said a word for most of the ride from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new headquarters to Tony’s and Loki’s place. Bruce mostly just concentrated on the road while Loki sat next to him, as stiff and silent as a statue, facing forward without seeing a single thing. His hands lay folded in his lap but his fingers where clutching so tightly onto each other, the skin turned white where the fingertips where pressing down while he forced himself not to turn around and check on his lover who was laying across the backseat, head lolling from side to side as the car changed lanes and took turns. Loki’s whole body was one taut line, but he felt his heart beating too fast in his chest, and his stomach churn with worry as he braced his feet against the floor. His shoulders barely touched the seat behind him as he willed the car to drive faster or time to stop crawling along; anything to get them home already.

“I know, we’re not exactly close”, Bruce cleared his throat when they pulled into the driveway and he felt like he could feel the tension radiating from the god at his side, “but if you need anything, you can always call, doesn’t have to be a medical emergency or anything”

“That is very kind of you”, Loki managed, the muscles in his jaw so tight, the words barely got out.

He attempted a smile as he undid his seatbelt and got out of the car. It came out more like a grimace, but Bruce sheepishly grinned back as he watched him lift Tony out of the car and followed him over to the house but stayed in the foyer while Loki went on through that room and up a set of stairs.

“I thought, I’d stay a couple of hours if something…”, Bruce trailed off after Loki came back a couple of minutes later and the god jumped, as if had not expected the doctor to still be there when he came down.

“You really don’t have to”, Loki told him distractedly, pausing for a moment, “I would not want you to waste your whole evening here, sitting around all alone”, he finally managed to focus on Bruce, “I am sorry, I just don’t think I will spent any more time than I absolutely have to down here while…”, he sighed, his voice wavering slightly during the last word.

“Don’t worry about it. I got my laptop in the car and about a month worth of paperwork on that, so I’d just get that and take up your living room if that’d be okay with you”

“Of course”, Loki whispered, the shadow of a real smile tugging at one corner of his mouth, “you know where everything is, right? The guest rooms are ready as well if you don’t feel like driving later but you are under no obligation to stay or go either way”

“Thanks. If there’s anything wrong with-“

“I should be the one thanking you”, Loki cut him off, softly, stepping off the last stair and up to Bruce, offering his hand to him and Bruce, more than a little stunned, took it. He could not think of a single time Loki had touched him on his own accord.

“No, you shouldn’t, seeing that you did all the work", Bruce laughed softly and carefully squeezed the god’s hand in his, “just come get me if you or Tony need something”

“I will”, the god finally let go of the doctor’s hand and went into the kitchen like he’d intended, where he rummaged through the drawers for a big plastic bowl before he teleported back upstairs, wondering why he had bothered taking the stairs the first time around.

He ducked into the bathroom next to their bedroom before he went back in and set the bowl down in the sink beneath the tap, gathering up a washcloth and a towel while it filled up with warm water. Loki took a deep, shaky breath before he picked everything up and carried it over to his and his lover’s bedroom. His bare feet made no sound on the wooden floor.

“I’m back, beloved”, he whispered as he set the bowl down on the nightstand, pushed the rest of the pillows off the bed and gingerly crawled onto the mattress next to Tony, who had not moved since Loki had left the room earlier.

“You can’t know- I don’t-”, he whispered in a hoarse voice, still on his knees next to him and cupped Tony’s face in his hands, kissing both his cheeks and forehead, only stopping when he finally had to breathe and pressed his forehead and nose against his lover’s, his breathing hard and loud in the quiet afternoon air, this close to turning into sobbing.

He tried to even his breathing as he let go of Tony and sat back against the headboard, folding his legs underneath himself before he carefully lifted Tony’s head into his lap, bent over him and gently touched his face. His fingers still trembled when he tried to undo the first shirt button and finally, he lost patience and materialized a slim golden dagger between his fingers. The fabric parted easily when he cut it open down the middle and on either side of Tony’s shoulders with three quick, even slits and easily tugged it off his spouse without having to move him and dropped the ruined thing next to him on the bed.

Finally, he dipped the corner of the washcloth into the warm water and started to carefully dab at the blood on Tony’s chin, neck and chest. He tried humming as he washed away the last remainder of the dark red stains that had dried against his lover’s skin but gave up when his voice continued breaking off. When he was done, Loki dropped the used cloth into the bowl on the nightstand and the towel next to it once he’d dried off his lover’s face, “there now”, he whispered, and now his voice was quavering in earnest as he touched Tony’s face, “looking just as handsome as usual”

The last word had barely left his lips, when the first tear rolled down his cheek and a sob clawed its way past his teeth. His shoulders shook as he buried one hand in the pillow, Tony’s head had been resting on earlier and the other one in the fabric of his lover’s dress shirt that now lay discarded next to him, a messy little bundle, soaked with blood and sweat and after a minute Loki picked it up and tossed it as far away from the bed as he could, balling his empty fist afterwards and letting the tears freely fall from his face without a thought of wiping them away, hiccupping between loud sobs. He’d been doing his best to keep it together as long as anyone had been with him since Natasha had called him - at least that bit of Aesir-tradition had stuck with him it seemed - but just looking down at his love’s chalk white face now made him feel like he’d been punched in his gut.

Tony’s skin still felt cool beneath the tips of his fingers, when he carefully stroked his cheek, let go of the pillow with his other hand and splayed it across Tony’s shoulder and chest, careful not to press down too hard, but Loki figured that would pass soon enough. Eventually, the tears stopped, and the god took a deep, steadying breath, blinking several times to get his lashes unstuck. A quiet beeping finally caught his attention and he looked up, his eyes landing on Dum-E, as he rolled up to the bed and offered him a box of tissues. Loki blinked again before he accepted it.

“Thank you”, he couldn’t help himself but laughed, tears still wet on his cheeks and voice still rough, “What are you doing here, little one?”, he asked, after he’d wiped away the last remainders of tears from his cheeks and reached out with one hand to pet the bot’s side.

“_I figured, you would not leave the room to get tissues_”, Jarvis smooth voice sounded quietly from the speakers.

“Thank you, Jarvis”, Loki smiled properly, gazing up at the ceiling as he talked to the AI, dabbing at his eyes with a new handful of tissues, “I am sorry for not filling you in earlier, I just-”

“_Forget about it, Sir. Dr Banner did as he set up his computer downstairs. You had other things on your mind_”

“Still”, Loki gazed down at his spouse, touching his cheek, “he should be okay now though”, he added, also to remind himself.

“_I am sure he will be, but I will notify you and Dr. Banner if he should deteriorate while you are sleeping or not in the room_”

“Small change of either of that happening right now”, Loki smiled tiredly, his fingers still smoothing over his spouse’s bare skin, “could you turn up the heating though and maybe dim the lights, please?”

“_Of course_”, Jarvis did as Loki had asked but added after several minutes, “_but maybe you should try to get some sleep as well, Sir_”

“I will”, the god, said softly, “but not yet”

Eventually, Loki gently moved his spouse off his lap and eased him back against his pillow before he took off Tony’s slacks and socks and tossed them down to the shoes, he’d dropped in front of the bed earlier. Then he took the blanket from the end of the mattress and tugged it up beneath Tony’s chin, sitting back on his haunches and regarded the sleeping face in front of him with a soft sigh. It had been weeks since he’d seen his love look so peaceful and relaxed, even in his sleep. He pressed his lips into Tony’s messy hair one last time before he carefully laid down next to him, lightly resting his head on his shoulder and slung his arm low around his lover’s hips to not accidentally press down against his stomach.

“What are you doing to yourself?”, he whispered, against Tony’s skin, “My sweet love”

He snuggled closer, watching the slow rise and fall of his lover’s chest and eventually, without meaning to, his eyes slipped shut and he dozed off.

_____

The next morning, Loki woke up just after sunrise. His lashes fluttered open and he sat up with a start, when the memory of the previous day came dawned on him. He placed a trembling hand down on his lover’s chest and closed his eyes, concentrating on anything that felt wrong. His lips stretched into a bright smile when he didn’t find anything and dipped his head to brush his lips against Tony’s sternum and stomach. He ignored the dull ache behind his eyes.

“Good morning, Anthony”, Loki whispered against his lover’s soft skin, which already felt much warmer than yesterday evening and looked a good deal less pallid.

He stayed right there for most of the morning, curled into his spouse and smoothing the tips of his fingers along Tony’s jaw and neck or reading out loud from Pride and Prejudice, only partly because Tony could not complain about his choice of book right now.

“_Dr. Banner is preparing to leave. He wanted me to pass on his thank you for letting him stay the night_”, Jarvis told him around midday.

“I will be right back, my love”, Loki whispered as he made sure, his lover was properly tugged in.

Bruce jumped and almost dropped his computer when Loki appeared out of thin air in front of him a moment later.

“I swear, I’ll get never get used to that”, he told the god, one hand over his heart, and Loki laughed.

“A god morning to you too”, he leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he watched Bruce pack up his laptop and papers, “and, if it’s any help to you, it took Thor literal decades to not unwittingly throw something at me every time I did this”

“Sounds fun”

“At least, it gave me better reflexes”

“And some black eyes, I imagine?”

“Only the first two hundred times or so”, Loki grinned when Bruce had finished gathering his things and glanced up at him;

“You’re in a good mood – I take it, Tony’s better now?”

“I think so”, the god nodded and followed Bruce to the front door, “I know, you told me not to thank you for yesterday, but I wanted to tell you at least, that I am thankful that you were there for him – and for staying the night just in case”, Loki told him, just before Bruce stepped over the threshold and over to his car.

“You’re welcome”, Bruce smiled back before he got in, “see you”

Loki waited at the door until the car had driven off and turned around a corner and only then stepped back inside. He had just pulled the door shut behind him when he heard sounds, coming from the stairwell.

“No”, he told Tony who’d made it down the stairs half way and now stood slumped against the wall next to him, almost as pale as he’d been when Loki had carried him up these exact same stairs yesterday, “_no_, Tony, you’re not supposed to be up yet, you’re-“, he’d meant to say ‘still too weak’ but before he’d managed to finish his sentence, his lover’s knees gave in and Loki barely managed to catch him just before he fell down the rest of the steps.

“What are you doing?”, he demanded as he hugged his lover close.

“’m fine”, Tony muttered but allowed the god to bear most of his weight.

“I beg to differ”, Loki told him drily, “now hold onto me, I’ll get you back to-“

“I’m fine”, Tony repeated, slower this time, “don’t need to stay in bed all day”

“Are you serious- Tony, you can’t stand upright”

“Thatdoesn’meananything”, Tony murmured into the god’s shoulder, his eyelids feeling impossibly heavy.

“I’m sure it doesn’t”, Loki sighed and a moment later, his lover sagged against him.

In the end, Loki did not bring Tony back to their bedroom but made him up a bed on their couch and settled down on the armrest next to his lover’s head, one leg crossed over the other and the tips of his fingers brushing against his face.

\----

Later that day, Loki’s phone started ringing.

“Yes?”, he asked quietly, holding the phone in front of him with his left hand, while his right remained on Tony’s chest, just above the arc reactor. He had eventually relocated from crouching on the arm of the couch to sitting cross-legged at one end of the couch with Tony’s head resting in in lap. The tip of his thumb reached just past the collar of his lover’s washed-out pyjama jacket, touching the pale skin between his collarbones and moving around in the tiniest circle.

On the tiny display, he could make out Steve, framed by Clint and Natasha and he was almost certain, that the shadow awkwardly hovering behind them was Bucky.

“Hey”, Steve gave a little wave, “we just wanted to check in on you and Tony, whether you’re alright”

“We’re fine”, Loki told them quietly, maybe a little bit more coldly than was necessary.

“Listen, we wanted to come by your place later so if there’s anything you want us to get you or do while-”, Clint started awkwardly after a long moment of silence and even on the screen they saw the god’s eyes flash.

“Now listen to me”, Loki said in a dangerously low voice as soon, doing his best to not move or otherwise disrupt Tony’s sleep, “don’t for one second believe that I don’t know what some of you think about Anthony; that he’s still some arrogant, egoistical maniac who only does what he wants to without caring about anyone else or their safety. That he can’t take anything serious or act responsibly and actually care about other people if that means cutting back on his own wishes. I know that some of you think that and frankly I’ve had enough; this man”, he turned his head to gaze down at his love’s sleeping face for a moment and took a deep breath before he turned back to face the rest of the team and continued glaring at them, “does nothing without worrying about possible consequences for others, he spends all his time trying to come up with yet more efficient and safe ways to rescue and keep as many people as possible safe for as long as possible. He doesn’t sleep- he _can’t_ sleep or eat or do anything without worrying himself sick and it doesn’t matter what I or anyone else says, he won’t stop doing that because he can’t. If it were up to him, he’d do nothing but work, no matter what strain that puts on his body; he keeps up and up still trying to make amends for every mistake he ever made and in his mind he won’t ever have done enough. I spend half my time trying to make him take a little care of himself so he won’t actually work himself to death and just go slightly easy on himself and you know what? He won’t do it. This morning, he already forced himself up again and tried to go back to work before he almost fainted on me on the stairs - because he can’t bring himself to care more about his own health than the safety of any of you and the rest of this planet”, he paused for a moment, closing his eyes and suddenly he just looked tired and worn out beneath skin that was even paler than usual, “I will go back to him now and I suggest that you maybe, just for a second, think about what I told you before you call here again”

Instead of waiting for a reply, Loki ended the call and reached forward to deposit the phone onto the low table in front of the couch.

“I don’t think they’ll ever try calling you again, you know”, the god heard a hoarse voice and his gaze flicked to his lover’s face, the phone unceremoniously dropping from his fingers, “S.H.I.E.L.D.’ll probably bill us for the therapy sessions they’re gonna need after that”

He’d only actually caught the last two sentences, having first stirred when the phone had rung – even after four years, Loki did not see the point in muting its ringtone – and it had taken most of the duration of the god’s rant for Tony to come to properly and actually catch the meaning of what he was saying.

“I’m sorry, Anthony”, Tony felt thin, cool fingers brush along his jaw and temple, smoothing away the frown that was starting to form on his forehead, “I didn’t mean to wake you up”

Tony waved him off with a weak grin before he reached for the hand that was currently resting against his jowl, turned his head and brushed his lips against it, “_I’m _sorry about the whole drama yesterday, honey, didn’t mean to freak you out”, he murmured against Loki’s knuckles.

“Who says, I was freaked out?”, Loki pursed his lips, wriggling his fingers the tiniest bit in his love’s grasp, “and you obviously don’t have to apologize to me for collapsing”

“The look on your face earlier, for instance”, Tony suggested, ignoring the second half of what his spouse had said, and Loki went still for a moment, “or that half empty box of Kleenexes on your nightstand”

“I knew, I’d forgotten something”, Loki angled his head to have a better look at Tony’s face, “don’t worry about it”

“Pf”, Tony squeezed his fingers a little tighter with a sigh, “of course I worry about you crying your eyes out because of me”

“I did not-“

“I know you, Lokes, you never half-ass anything”, he told the god quietly, “and I’m sorry, I wasn’t there for you”

“Now-“

“-and for being an idiot earlier and scaring you, I wasn’t thinking”

“Not that that’s entirely new to me”, Loki whispered in a feeble attempt to make his lover laugh and it was a testament to how downright exhausted Tony still was that his lips stretched into a weak smile.

“’m gonna suggest something”; he eventually told the god, holding holding fast onto his hand.

“Yes?”

“I stop brushing off or questions”, Tony took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he went on. He could already feel his mind fog over with tiredness again and, stifling a yawn, “you do the same and we actually talk about this?”

“Of course,”, Loki sounded so stunned, his lover asked himself if he should feel insulted, but he could see his point, “I’d be happy to”

He would have given Tony another two days or so until he’d have started laying into him about yesterday;

“Do you want to start or…?”

They exchanged a weary sort of smile at how awkward Loki’s question had come out and Tony shook his head, still smiling weakly.

“No, you go ahead and ask whatever you want, honey, I owe you”

“No you don’t-“

“Just go ahead”, Tony rolled his eyes but now properly smiled at his lover behind their locked fingers.

“How are you feeling now, truthfully?”

“Still tired, to be honest, weak”, Tony told him with a quiet sigh, “dizzy, stomach still aches a little but nowhere near as bad as yesterday – and I know, I should just sleep for the next days or so and this’ll be all fine and over but…”, he trailed off and Loki softly asked;

“But?”

“I, I – and I know this sounds stupid and as if I was trying to play myself up as a martyr or something – I don’t feel I can, not with all these things going on and stuff I have to get done. I don’t really-“, he stopped again and swallowed, his cheeks feeling hot and his mouth parched, and he looked away, this wasn’t something a actually said out loud, never mind to someone else, “I’m fine, you see? It wasn’t really that bad, compared to what other people go through and I just don’t think I deserve the fuss and everything”, he shrugged helplessly, feeling like his whole face had to be bright red at this point although it probably wasn’t, “I really suck at talking about this, I know”

“I don’t think so”, Loki told him softly, “I’m glad you told me”, he cleared his throat, “and I know that me saying this won’t actually help you much but”, he looked Tony in the eye, “to me, nothing is more important than you being happy and healthy and in general; you don’t have to put each and everything above yourself; you don’t owe anyone”

Tony kept quiet, just as Loki had expected and he laughed softly; “Like I’ve said, I don’t expect my words to just change everything and help you, don’t worry, I’m not that naive”

He felt Tony relax slightly after that and brushed the pad of his thumb over a faint scar near Tony’s hairline, stretching up to kiss his forehead; “I know you, remember? You let me know you”

“I guess so”, Tony sighed, feeling incredibly cosy beneath the soft sheets and with his lover cradling him close and stroking his skin, or at least tried to concentrate on nothing but that and just relax, “I don’t regret it, you know”

“I’m glad you did”, Loki paused for a second, still gently touching his face and showed his lover the brightest smile, “but I still won’t let you get up, you know that, right?”

“I figured”, Tony told him with a dry grin, “anything else you wanna tell me while we’re all chatty?”

“I just”, Loki started, biting down on his lower lip, “I just think you should tell me when you’re in pain or not feeling well”

He looked at Tony, when he didn’t answer at once, “- not that I’m trying to-“

But his lover had started laughing, rather softly and with his face screwing up almost instantly when the laughter made his stomach hurt worse, “That would help, yeah, fuck”, he winced, and Loki regarded him with a slightly bewildered look.

“Are you finished?”, Loki asked when his lover stopped chuckling.

“Think so”, Tony told him, carefully taking his hand away from the god’s face and rubbed it across his middle, “but I have two conditions”

“… you have some conditions for telling me when you’re unwell instead of being in pain for days and passing out?”

“_Two_ conditions”, Tony specified.

“Go on then”, Loki sighed, figuring that this was about the closest he would get to his lover listening to him.

“You don’t get to keep it to yourself when you’re sick or hurt either, that’s just fair”

“I can live with that”

“You also tell me when you need anything; when I’m being an asshole and you can’t deal with it or just feel sad or something; I don’t like the thought of you hiding stuff like that away to not bother me. I’ll do the same or I’ll try at least”

“Done”, Loki said immediately, “Anthony Stark, are you becoming responsible on me?”, he asked with a smile.

“Nah, don’t worry”, Tony yawned and let his head loll to the side, “just tired”

“I have the craziest idea what you could do about that”

Tony squinted at him beneath heavy lids and made an undistinguishable sound before he carefully shifted onto his side and nuzzled his face against Loki’s stomach.

“Love you”, he whispered into the fabric of his shirt as Loki carefully fitted his arms around his lover’s head and shoulder and hugged him close, “like so, so much”

“I love you too”, Loki couldn’t help himself but smiled as he gazed down at Tony’s dark hair, winding a strand around his fingers, "just as much"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading - sometimes I just feel like someone needs to point out that Tony Stark is actually not responsible for everything bad happening on earth and would sooner chew off his own foot than stop trying to protect everyone on the planet.
> 
> (I am aware that this is rather badly written and probably not at all medically acurate)


End file.
